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Dispatches

SECRET SHARED

Microsoft has given the source code for its Windows operating system software to the Russian government, to help it safeguard national security. The deal, which is equivalent to Coca-Cola revealing its secret recipe, will allow Russia to verify security within the Windows system and create secure programs of its own. The only other government to have the code is the US, but Microsoft is in talks with NATO and 20 other countries. Critics say the move is intended to discourage governments from embracing “open-source” software and soften them up for Microsoft’s next-generation software platform, Palladium.